Bill to check money laundering moved

The wads of currency notes that change hands at casinos may soon have to be reported to authorities.

The government on Friday introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha seeking amendments in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that would make it mandatory for casinos, credit card payment gateways like Mastercard and Visa and money changers to report transactions to Indian authorities.

The government is examining records of more than 600 financial transactions that it believes could be linked to terror funding and other suspicious activities in the country and the region.

The PMLA was enacted in 2002.

Amendments have become necessary in wake of rising threat of misusing legitimate financial enterprises and channels to fund terrorist activities.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), set up by the finance ministry in 2006 to monitor money laundering and terror financing, has forwarded a list of suspicious transactions, including hundreds of cases of suspected terror financing and doubtful foreign remittance, to Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and regulators and departments.

In 2006-07 India received at least 14 enquiries from abroad related to terror financing and other suspicious transactions.